Building block



Sept. 25', 1934. F. c. DONOVAN BUILDING BLOCK Filed June 3, 1932 2 Sheets-Sheet l I INVENTOR fiv/rk 6. fia/mm/r A'r'ronusvs p 1934- F. c. DONOVAN 1,974,564

BUILDING BLOCK Filed June 3. 1932 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 f 'g. Z

INVENTOR 170/214 6'. Dar/0 0 ATTORNEYS Patented Sept. 25, 1934 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE This invention relates to building blocks and more particularly to blocks for like purposes which are formed in molds; and an object of the present invention is to. so construct such blocks as to facilitate the placing, aligning and securing of such blocks in a wall, whereby accuracy and permanency are secured and the work may be performed by unskilled labor, thus greatly reducing the cost of a wall formed of such blocks and producing a better wall;

A further object is to provide blocks which may be laid'in a wall in close abutting relation I to present substantially continuous surfaces, and to provide a block having chambers or passages so arranged that a cross section taken at any point of a wall formed of such blocks, will intersect at least one of such passages. It is also an object to provide an interior groove or grooves in each block, which grooves open at an end of the block, whereby when said blocks are laid up to form a wall, cementitious or similar material may be forced, by a gun or other pressure device, into said groove or grooves extending continuously around each block, to tie the blocks together within the walls.

It is also an object to facilitate alignment of the blocks in placing them in a wall, by providing each block with tongues and grooves to engage tongues and grooves of adjacent blocksand thus insure perfect alignment of the blocks in a wall, at the same time facilitating erection of the wall by permitting of the laying of the blocks in the wall and later cementing the same in place, it being unnecessary to cement each block in place as it is laid.

The invention further resides in certain other new and useful features, all as hereinafter described and more particularly pointed out in the appended claims, reference being had to the at:- companying drawings in which Figure 1 is a top plan view of a block illustrative of an embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 2 is an end elevation of the block;

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of a section of wall formed of said blocks;

Fig. 4 is a transverse section of the wall, substantially upon the line 4-4 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a plan view of a wall and showing a corner construction therefor;

Fig. 6 is a view similar to that of Fig. 4 and illustrating a modified construction;

Fig. 7 is a plan view of one of the blocks shown in Fig. 6; and

Fig. 8 is a top plan view of the corner block shown in Fig. 5.

As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the block comprises a body formed of cementitious or other suitable material within a suitable mold in the usual manner of forming such building blocks, and each block is formed with two longitudinal rows of openings 1 and 2 which extend through the block, opening through the top and bottom sides thereof. The openings 1 of one row are in staggered relation to the openings 2 of the other row and at the ends of each row are part or sectional openings 3 which also open through the ends of the block and when the blocks are placed end to end in a wall, these part or half openings in the ends of the block match up with like openings in the ends of the abutting blocks and form complete openings extending vertically in the wall and which correspond in shape to the openings 2. By staggering the openings in one row relative to those of the other row, the webs. 4 between the ends of adjacent openings of each row, are brought opposite the openings in the other row, and thus a transverse section taken at any point throughout the length of the block will intersect one of the openings. Therefore an insulating or dead air space is provided in the wall formed by so these blocks, at every point throughout the length of the wall.

To provide for the proper alignment of the blocks in a wall, a' groove 5 is formed in each block adjacent its side faces in its. upper side face 35 throughout the length thereof and also in one end face of the block vertically across said face and forming continuations of said grooves in said upper face, and corresponding tongues 5 are formed on the opposite end of the block to fit into grooves 5 in the upper side face of blocks below in the wall.

The blocks may therefore be placed, one upon another and end to end in a wall, and will be held by these tongues. and grooves, in perfect alignment without the necessity for cementing each block in place as it is laid. Therefore unskilled labor may be employed to lay up a wall, as the cementing follows the laying or placing of the blocks and it is not necessary to cement each block in place, simultaneously with its laying, as is the common practice and which requires skilled labor.

The blocks are also each formed with a semicircular groove 7 intermediate the two rows of openings 1 and 2 and this-groove extends all the way around each block throughout the length of the top, bottom and end surfaces of the block,

, material for uniting the blocks and securely holding them in place, and as each groove extends to the ends of the block, the channel formed thereby will be open at the end of the last-block of the series laid, so that by the use of a gun or other suitable pressure device inserted in this open end of the channel, cement may be forced under pressure into said channel to fill the same, it flowing horizontally between the superposed courses and vertically upward and downward from said channel between the courses, into the channels between the opposed ends of the blocks of the courses, thus completely filling the channel and firmly cementing the ends of the blocks of each tier together and also uniting the superposed tiers or courses.

To further anchor each block in place in the wall and particularly against endwise movement, each web portion 4 at the upper and lower faces of each block, is formed with a recess 8 therein opening laterally from the semi-circular groove 7 in said faces, and therefore as the channel formed by said. grooves in superposed blocks, fills up, the cement will flow laterally therefrom into these recesses 8, filling the same and forming what might be termed lateral projections on the uniting member which is formed in said channel. Attention is also called to the fact that the end edges 9 of the sides of the grooves '7 in the ends of the blocks, do not extend out quite to the plane of the end surface of the block as shown by the dot and dash lines in Fig. 1, and therefore when the blocks are placed end to end in the wall, there will be a narrow space between these edges 9 on one block and the opposed edges of the abutting block, and therefore, when cement is forced into the channel between the ends of said blocks, it will flow laterally therefrom to a limited extent, through these restricted spaces and form lateral ribs on the uniting member formed in said channels at the ends of the blocks, as shown in Fig. 5, to anchor these members.

If found desirable, a corner block 10 shown in Fig. 5, may be provided, this block being substantially the same as the other blocks except that the groove 7 is omitted from its end face 11, but said groove in its upper face extends through said end face, to form with the corresponding groove in a superposed block, a channel which is open through said end face to provide for the insertion of apressure gun therein to force cement into the channels. Also the openings 3 are omitted at this end face 11 of the block as are also the tongues 6, and this face therefore, presents a plain surface, providing a continuation of the outside surface of a wall extending at an angle to said block 10. A filler corner block 12 is illustrated in Fig. 8, it being substantially one half the length of the other blocks to fill in at the corner of the wall where a course or tier of blocks stops short of the corner. This filler block is shown as formed with the groove '7 and also grooves 5, extending across its upper face, the outer end not the block being plain, but the. opposite end being formed with the grooves 5 and '7 and also with the openings 3 to match up with the end of an abutting block.

The construction of block shown in Figs. 6 and '7 is the same as that of the block shown in Figs. 1-and'4 except that a groove'13/to receive cement, is provided extending along adjacent each side of the block and a single-tongue 14 and groove 15 is formed at the center of theend and top and bottom faces of the block.

with blocks of the form and construction shown, awall may be very expeditiously erected without the use of skilled labor, and by reason of suchconstruction, a wall is provided having an insulating or'air opening extending vertically I thereof throughout every portion of its length, and a very substantial, solid wall secured, the surfaces of which are formed entirely by the blocks which are in close abutting relation, "no cement showing between the blocks, as such uniting cementitious material is completely concealed within interior grooves, and therefore said wall surfaces present a very smooth, neat appearance.

Obviously, other changes may be made within the scope of the appended claims, without departing from the spirit of the invention, and I do not therefore, limit myself to the construction shown.

Having thus fully described my invention what I claim is: l

1. A block of the character described includin a. rectangular body formed with a groove in an edge face of said body and inwardly from a side face of said body, said groove being open at its ends at the ends of said edge face and forming with a like groove in an abutting face of an adjacent block, a channel for the introduction of material into an end of said channel for connecting said blocks, said blocks being formed with recesses in the edge face adjacent said groove and connected to said groove to form a laterial extension thereon.

2. A block of the character described including a rectangular body formed withlongitudinal grooves in the upper and lower edge faces thereof to form, with like grooves in faces of blocks abutting said faces, channels to receive material for uniting said blocks, said grooves extending longitudinally of said block and at a distance inwardly from its side faces and open at their ends through the end faces of said block, said block having recesses formed in faces thereof adjacent said grooves, said recesses each being connected to one of said grooves to form a lateral extension thereon.

3. A block of the character described including a rectangular body formed with top, bottom and end edge faces each having a groove therein, said grooves together forming a. continuous groove around said body at a distance inwardly from the side faces of said body and to form with like grooves inabutting faces of adjacent blocks, said body being formed. with recesses forming lateral extensions on said grooves, a channel to receive material for uniting said blocks.

4. A building block comprising a rectangular body formed with a continuous groove in its four edge faces intermediate its side faces and adapted to form with mating grooves in blocks placed in 14!) close contact with said edge faces, a channel to receive cementitious material by a flowing underpressure of said material into said channel, said body being formed with recesses forming lateral extensions on said grooves, said body being also formed with grooves in certain of said edge faces to receive tongues on like faces of adjacent blocks, whereby said block may be laid in a wall and after laying may be secured in place by the forcing of cementitious material into said channel.

5. A building block comprising a' rectangular body formed with a plurality of longitudinal rows of openings each opening being open at its upper and lower ends through the upper and lower edge faces of said body and said openings being separated, one from the other by webs integral with said body, said body being also formed with a continuous groove in said edge iacesof said body and with lateral extensions of said groove within said webs.

6. A building block comprising a rectangular body formed with longitudinal rows of openings,

each open at its end through the top and bottom 

